Other Turtle Discussion :: unhappy/mean RES

[swegin]

So about a little over a month ago my wife and I purchased two RES from petco. It has been an awesome experience we have loved having them. their names are burt and seymour. Burt has warmed up to us very quickly. He swims up to the glass when we are by the tank, and he gobbles up anything and everything that we throw in the tank. Seymour on the other hand has been alot more difficult. He still will not eat anything but tuna, (we have tried three different types of pellets, mustard greens, kale, carrots, blue berries) and whenever we come in the room he freaks out and swims around and tries to hide. The last couple of times that I have got him out to put in the feeding tank he has opened his mouth as if he was going to try and bite me....

So my main question is: How can I make seymour happier? Has anyone had this problem?

[rsour24]

i am having this problem on occasion

[steve]

It might not change at all... they have their own individual personalities, though skittishness could subside.

[TurtleKeeper48]

I agree with Steve. He or She might grow out of it. Skittishness is certainly not uncommon. In my limited experience I'm inclined to believe that larger turtles are less skittish, but that might just be ours.

One of ours, Rosa, was pretty skittish at 4" - but then she had a nice growth spurt and at 5" or so she is way more outgoing and not shy at all, more like the other 5" + inch turtle we have (Laverne). The 3rd turtle (Shirley) is still around 4", and she is by far the most skittish of them all.

So maybe it's just circumstantial evidence, but ours have all been very skittish at around 4" and way more outgoing / less skittish at around 5" or so. Interestingly enough, Shirley - the skittish little 4" turtle, has been showing a lot of signs of starting a major carapace shed, and she's a lot less shy and skittish lately - so maybe she's going to have a growth spurt and jump up to 5" like Rosa did and maybe she'll be less skittish? Only time will tell. These are just observations, not facts. They all have different personalities.

[Listen97]

Out of my two turtles (both 4 years old) one is skittish but will eat things out of your hand and doesn't mind being picked up too much. While on the other hand her sister back away anytime anything comes toward the tank. She doesn't hide as much and tolerates being taken out minimally.